Kiss-Off Cancer cook off Sunday in Rossland

This Sunday, Rossland will be hosting a fundraiser that will bring together famous cooks and chefs from the community. The Kiss Off Cancer 2012 Cook Off challenges chefs to use ingredients proven to help fight cancer risk, as well as serve up delicious dishes. Tickets for the event are $20 ($40 for a family) and will give you a ticket to enjoy all the delicious creations.

Organizer Diana Daghofer explained that they held the first event in the spring of 2011, but decided to change the timing to Fall.

“We decided to move it to the fall because we were hoping that people could use produce that they’ve grown themselves.,” Daghofer said, adding that many plan to do just that on Sunday. “Basically, it’s a big potluck dinner. There will be some food provided by the restaurants that are competing. We’ve got five restaurants involved, three from Rossland and two from Nelson. They will be bringing taster sample dishes.”

Community members can join in by bringing foods that use the same anti-cancer ingredients that the professional chefs will be using to create some potluck dishes and dinner.

The competing restaurants from Rossland are Gabriella’s Pasta Place, The Alpine Grind and Clancey’s, while the Nelson restaurants are Re-lish Bistro and Mana’eesh Market Deli.

“It’s buffet style,” Daghofer explained. “People will pick up their plates and have a choice of checking out some of the restaurant prepared fare or what they like from the potluck portion of it.”

They ended up having lots of food last year, so she’s hoping there will be plenty of contributions again this year.

Apart from the food, they will also have a silent auction with some 50 items that businesses from the region have donated, which could help people to start their Christmas shopping.

There will be some information presented about cancer prevention.

“People get directly involved in it, by preparing the dishes, from going through all the ingredients and figuring out what they can make with them,” she said. “It’s a very hands on way of learning about prevention.”

People who are contributing dishes pay $20 to be part of the judging and eligible for prizes. Or $40 for family of four.

Cooks can register on their site.

The fundraiser goes to support the national organization Prevent Cancer Now.

Daghofer, a member said they work on everything from “raising awareness and helping people realize that most cancers are preventable, to working with regulators and governments to do things like encourage pesticide bylaws in British Columbia, get rid of asbestos mining in Quebec and try to quash incinerator proposals wherever they pop up.”

The event is 5 p.m. Sunday at the Prestige Mountain Resort in Rossland.

She added that she hopes people will come out and get fully involved and enjoy a great dinner and an interesting learning experience at the same time.